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THE   POETRY   OF   THE   PSALMS 


THE 


Poetry  of  the  Psalms 


FOR   READERS   OF   THE   ENGLISH   BIBLE 


BY 

HENRY  VAN  DYKE 

PROFESSOR     OF    ENGLISH     LITERATURE 
IN    PRINCETON    UNIVERSITY 


SEVENTH    THOUSAND 


NEW   YORK 

THOMAS    Y.  CROWELL   &    COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1000, 
By  Thomas   V.  Crowkli  &  Company. 


URL 


A/  l£ 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


This   little  book   is   intended  as  a  brief  and  An  intro- 
simple  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  Psalms,  Auction. 
in  English,  as  poetry. 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  we  may  study  Three 
the  Bible :  as  a  revelation,  as  a  document,  and  waVs  io 
as  literature.  ^  the 

We  may  study  it  as  the  divinely  inspired  and 
perfect  rule  of  faith  and  conduct.  This  is  the 
point  of  view  from  which  it  appears  most  precious. 
For  this  is  what  we  need  most  of  all :  the  word  of 
God  to  teach  us  what  to  believe  and  how  to  live. 

We  may  study  it  as  a  collection  of  historical 
books,  written  under  certain  conditions,  and  re- 
flecting, in  their  contents  and  in  their  language, 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  produced. 
This  is  the  aspect  in  which  criticism  regards  the 
Bible ;  and  its  intellectual  interest,  as  well  as  its 
religious  value,  is  greatly  enhanced  by  a  clear 
vision  of  the  truth  about  it  from  this  point  of  view. 

We  may  study  it  also  as  literature.     We  may 

see  in  it  a  noble  and  impassioned  interpretation 

of  nature  and  life,  uttered  in  language  of  beauty 

and  sublimity,  touched  with  the  vivid  colours  of 

5 

904585 


6  THE  POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS. 

human    personality,  and    embodied   in   forms   of 

enduring  literary  art. 
Harmony      None  of  these  three  ways  of  studying  the  Bible 
of  these     js  i10Stile  to  the  others.     On  the  contrary,  they 

are  helpful  to  one  another,  because  each  of  them 
ways. 

gives  us  knowledge  of  a  real  factor  in  the  mar- 
vellous influence  of  the  Bible  in  the  world. 
True  love       The  true  lover  of   the  Bible  has  an  interest  in 
for  the      ajj  ^g  eiemerits  of  its  life  as  an  immortal  book. 
...    ,  He  wishes  to  discern,   and  rightly  to  appreciate, 
the  method  of  its  history,  the  spirit  of  its  philos- 
ophy, the  significance  of  its  fiction,  the  power  of 
its  eloquence,  and  the  charm  of  its  poetry.     He 
wishes  this  all  the  more  because  he  finds  in  it 
something  which  is  not  in  any  other  book :  a  vis- 
ion of  God,  a  hope  for  man,  and  an  inspiration 
to  righteousness  which  are  evidently  divine.     As 
the    worshipper  in   the   Temple    would    observe 
the   art   and   structure  of   the  carven    beams   of 
cedar  and  the  lily-work  on  the  tops  of  the  pillars 
the  more  attentively  because  they  beautified  the 
house  of  his  God,  so  the  man  who  has  a  religious 
faith  in  the  Bible  will  study  more  eagerly   and 
carefully  the  literary  forms  of  the  book  in  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  speaks  forever. 
The  value     We  shall  do  wisely  to  consider  and  appreciate 
of  poetry   tne  poetical  element  in  the  Psalms.     The  com- 
"    ,e        fort,  help,  and  guidance  that  they  bring  to  our 
spiritual  life  will  not  be  diminished,  but  increased, 
by  a  perception  of  their  exquisite  form  and  finish. 
If    a    king  sent    a    golden    cup  full   of    cheering 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE   PSALMS.  7 

cordial  to  a  weary  man,  he  might  well  admire 
the  twofold  bounty  of  the  royal  gift.  The 
beauty  of  the  vessel  would  make  the  draught 
more  grateful  aud  refreshing.  And  if  the  cup 
were  inexhaustible,  if  it  filled  itself  anew  as 
often  as  it  touched  the  lips,  then  the  very  shape 
and  adornment  of  it  would  become  significant 
aud  precious.  It  would  be  an  inestimable  posses- 
sion, a  singing  goblet,  a  treasure  of  life. 

John   Milton,  whose  faith   in  religion  was  as  John  Mil- 
exalted  as  his  mastery  of  the  art  of   poetry  was ion  on  tfie 
perfect,  has  expressed   in  a  single  sentence  the    s    m  ' 
spirit  in  which  I  would  approach  the  poetic  study 
of  the  Book  of  Psalms :     "  Not  iu  their  divine 
arguments  alone,  but  in  the  very  critical  art  of 
composition,  the  Psalms  may  be  easily  made  to 
appear  over  all  kinds  of  lyric  poetry  incompar- 
able." 

I. 

Let  us  remember  at  the  outset  that  a  consider-  Draw- 
able  part  of  the  value  of  the  Psalms  as  poetry  backs  to 
will  lie  beyond  the  reach  of  this  essav.     We  can  the  study 

i  -j_  .    '         ,,  of  the 

not  precisely  measure  it,  nor  give  it  a  full  appre-  '' 
ciation,  simply  because  we  shall  be  dealing  with  £ngiish. 
the  Psalms  only  as  we  have  them  in  our  English 
Bible.     This  is  a  real  drawback  ;  and  it  will  be 
well  to  state  clearly  the  two  things  that  we  lose 
in  reading  the  Psalms  in  this  way. 

First,   we    lose  the    beauty  and  the  charm    of  The  form 
verse.     This  is  a  serious  loss.     Poetry  and  versu  of  verse 
are  not  the  same  thing,  but  they  are  so  intimately ts  lost' 


8  THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS. 

related  that  it  is  difficult  to  divide  them.  Indeed, 
according  to  certain  definitions  of  poetry  it  would 
seem  almost  impossible. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  we  accept  this  defi- 
nition :  ' '  Poetry  is  that  variety  of  the  Literature 
of  Emotion  which  is  written  in  metrical  form."  1 
How,  then,  can  we  have  poetry  when  the  form  is 
not  metrical? 

Yet  who  will  deny  that  the  Psalms  as  we  have 
them  in  the   English  Bible  are  really  and  truly 
poetry  ? 
Relation        The  only  way  out  of  this  difficulty  that  I  can 
of  poetry  see  js  to  distinguish  between  verse  as  the  formal 
to  verse.     eiement,  and  rhythmical  emotion  as  the  essential 
element,  in  poetry.     In  the  original  production 
of  a  poem,  it  seems  to  me,  it  is  just  to  say  that 
the  embodiment  in  metrical  language  is  a  law  of 
art  which  must  be  observed.     But  in  the  transla- 
tion of  a  poem  (which  is  a  kind  of  reflection  of 
it  in  a  mirror)   the  verse   may  be   lost   without 
altogether  losing  the  poem. 

Take  an  illustration  from  another  art.  A 
statue  has  the  symmetry  of  solid  form.  You 
can  look  at  it  from  all  sides,  and  from  every  side 
you  can  see  the  balance  and  rhythm  of  the  parts. 
In  a  photograph  this  solidity  of  form  disappears. 
You  see  only  a  flat  surface.  But  you  still  recog- 
nize it  as  the  reflection  of  a  statue. 
Hebrew  The  Psalms  were  undoubtedly  written,  in  the 
versifica-   origmai  Hebrew,  according  to  a  system  of  versi- 


tton. 


1  "  Principles  of  Literary  Criticism."     C.  T.  Winchester,  p.  232. 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS.  9 

ficatiou,  and  perhaps  to  some  extent  with  forms 
of  rhyme. 

The  older  scholars,  like  Lowth  and  Herder,  held 
that  such  a  system  existed,  but  could  not  be  re- 
covered. Later  scholars,  like  Ewald,  evolved  a 
system  of  their  own.  Modern  scholarship,  rep- 
resented by  such  authors  as  Professors  Cheyne 
and  Briggs,  is  reconstructing  and  explaining 
more  accurately  the  Hebrew  versification.  But, 
for  the  present  at  least,  the  only  thing  that  is 
clear  is  that  this  system  mast  remain  obscure  to  us. 
It  cannot  be  reproduced  in  English.  The  metrical  Metrical 
versions  of  the  Psalms  are  the  least  satisfactory,  versions. 
The  poet  Cowley  said  of  them,  •'  They  are  so  far 
from  doing  justice  to  David  that  methinks  they 
revile  him  worse  than  Shimei."  '  We  must  learn 
to  appreciate  the  poety  of  the  Psalms  without  the 
aid  of  those  symmetries  of  form  and  sound  in 
which  they  first  appeared.  This  is  a  serious  loss. 
Poetry  without  verse  is  still  poetry,  but  it  is  like 
a  bride  without  a  bridal  garment. 

The  second  thing  that  we  lose  in  reading  the  The  shad- 
Psalms  in  English  is  something  even  more  im-  ing  of  the 
portant.     It   is  the  heavy  tax  on  the  wealth  o£ori9inal 
its  meaning,  which   all  poetry  must  pay  when  it  an9va9e 
is  imported  from  one  country  to  another,  through 
the  medium  of  translation. 

The  most  subtle  charm  of  poetry  is  its  sugges-  Thepower 
tiveness  ;  and  much  of  this  comes  from  the  magi-  of  associ- 

—  ation  in 
'The  Works  of   Mr.    Abraham  Cowley.     3  vols.     London,  1710.  » 

Preface  to  "  1'iodniique  Odes,"  vol.  i,  p.  184. 


10 


THE  POETRY   OF   THE  PSALMS. 


cal  power  which  words  acquire  over  memory  and 
imagination,  from  their  associations.  This  inti- 
mate and  personal  charm  must  be  left  behind  when 
a  poem  passes  from  one  language  to  another. 
The  accompaniment,  the  harmony  of  things  re- 
membered and  beloved,  which  the  very  words  of 
the  song  once  awakened,  is  silent  now.  Nothing 
remains  but  the  naked  melody  of  thought.  If 
this  is  pure  and  strong,  it  will  gather  new  associ- 
ations ;  as,  indeed,  the  Psalms  have  already  done 
in  English,  so  that  their  familiar  expressions  have 
become  charged  with  musical  potency.  And  yet 
I  suppose  such  phrases  as  "  a  tree  planted  by  the 
streams  of  water,"  "  a  fruitful  vine  in  the  inner- 
most parts  of  the  house,"  "  the  mountains  round 
about  Jerusalem,"  can  never  bring  to  us  the  full 
sense  of  beauty,  the  enlargement  of  heart,  that 
they  gave  to  the  ancient  Hebrews. 


The 
poetry 
survives 
this  two- 
fold loss. 

One  ele- 
ment of 
poetic 
form 
retained. 


But,  in  spite  of  this  double  loss,  in  the  passage 
from  verse  to  prose  and  from  Hebrew  to  Eng- 
lish, the  poetry  of  the  Psalms  is  so  real  and  vital 
and  imperishable  that  every  reader  feels  its 
beauty  and  power. 

It  retains  one  valuable  element  of  poetic  form. 
This  is  that  balancing  of  the  parts  of  a  sentence, 
one  against  another,  to  which  Bishop  Lowth  first 
gave  the  familiar  name  of  "  parallelism."  '  The 
effect  of  this  simple  artifice,  learned  from  Nature 


i  Lowth. 
1753. 


De  Sacra  Poesi  Ilebraeorum  Praelectiones."    Oxon., 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS.  11 

herself,  is  singularly  pleasant  and  powerful.  It 
is  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  fountain,  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  the  tide,  the  tone  and  overtone  of  the 
chiming  bell.  The  twofold  utterance  seems  to 
bear  the  thought  onward  like  the  wings  of  a 
bird.  A  German  writer  compares  it  very  exquis- 
itely to  "  the  heaving  and  sinking  of  the  troubled 
heart." 

It  is  this  "  parallelism  "  which  gives  such  a 
familiar  charm  to  the  language  of  the  Psalms. 
Unconsciously,  and  without  recognizing  the 
nature  of  the  attraction,  we  grow  used  to  the 
double  cadence,  the  sound  and  the  echo,  and 
learn  to  look  for  its  recurrence  with  delight. 

" 0  come  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord ; 

Let  us  make  a  joyful  noise  to  the  rock  of  our  salvation, 
Let  us  come  hefore  his  presence  with  thanksgiving; 
And  make  a  joyful  noise  unto  him  with  psalms." 

If  we  should  want  a  plain  English  name  for  Thought- 
this   method   of    composition   we   might   call   \t  rhyme, 
thought -rhyme.     It  is  easy  to  find  varied  illustra- 
tions of  its  beauty  and  of  its  power  to  emphasize 
large  and  simple  ideas. 

Take  for  instance  that  very  perfect  psalm  with  Psalm  I. 
which  the   book   begins  —  a  poem  so  complete,  "  ^he 
so  compact,  so  delicately  wrought  that  it  seems       ° 
like  a  sonnet.     The  subject  is  The  Two  Paths. 

The  first  part  describes  the  way  of  the  good  The  Paih 
man.     It  has   three    divisions.  of  Peace. 

The  first  verse  gives  a  description  of  his  con- 


12  THE  POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS. 

duct  by  negatives  —  telling  us  what  he  does  not 
do.     There  is  a  triple  thought-rhyme  here. 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of 

the  ungodly, 
Nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners, 
Nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful." 

The  second  verse  describes  his  character  posi- 
tively, with  a  double  thought-rhyme. 

"  But  his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  Jehovah; 
And  in  his  law  doth  he  meditate  day  and  night." 

The  third  verse  tells  us  the  result  of  this  char 
acter  and  conduct,  in  a  fourfold  thought-rhyme 

"  He  shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water  : 

That  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season : 

His  leaf  also  shall  not  wither  : 

And  whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper." 

The  Path       The   second  part  of  the  psalm  describes  the 
of  Sor-     way  0£  ^ne  gvq  man.     in  the  fourth  verse  there 
is  a  double  thought-rhyme. 

"  The  ungodly  are  not  so  : 

But  are  like  the  chaff  which  the  wind  driveth  away." 

In  the  fifth  verse  the  consequences  of  this 
worthless,  fruitless,  unrooted  life  are  shown, 
again  with  a  double  cadence  of  thought,  the  first 
referring  to  the  judgment  of  God,  the  second  to 
the   judgment  of  men. 

"  Therefore  the  ungodly  shall  not  stand  in  the  judgment : 
Nor  sinners  in  the  congregation  of  the  righteous." 


row. 


THE   POETRY  OF   THE   PSALMS.  13 

The  third  part  of  the  psalm  is  a  terse,  power-  The 
ful  couplet,  giving  the  reason  for  the   different  contrast. 
ending  of  the  two  paths. 

"  For  Jehovah  knoweth  the  way  of  the  righteous  : 
But  the  way  of  the  ungodly  shall  perish." 

The  thought-rhyme  here  is  one  of  contrast. 

A  poem  of  very  different  character  from  this  Psalm 
brief,    serious,    impersonal    sonnet   is   found   in        v 
the  Forty-sixth  Psalm,  which  might  be  called  a   . 
national    anthem.       Here    again    the    poem    is  anthem. 
divided  into  three  parts. 

The  first  part   (vs.  1-3)   expresses  a  sense  of  National 
joyful  confidence  in  the  Eternal,  amid  the  tern-  fa'ith- 
pests    and   confusions  of  earth.      The  thought- 
rhymes  are  in  couplets ;  and  the  second  phrase,  in 
each  case,  emphasizes  and  enlarges  the  idea  of 
the  first  phrase. 

"  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength : 
A  very  present  help  in  trouble." 

The  second  part  (vs.  4-7)  describes  the  National 
peace  and  security  of  the  city  of  God,  surrounded  security. 
by  furious  enemies,  but  rejoicing  in  the  Eternal 
Presence.  The  parallel  phrases  here  follow  the 
same  rule  as  in  the  first  part.  The  concluding 
phrase  is  the  stronger,  the  more  emphatic.  The 
seventh  verse  gives  the  refrain  or  chorus  of  the 
anthem. 

"The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us  : 

The  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge." 


14 


THE   POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


National 
deliver- 
ance. 


A  sugges- 
tion for 
study. 


Alpha- 
betic 
Psalms. 


The  last  part  (vs.  8-10)  describes  in  a  very 
vivid  aud  concrete  way  the  deliverance  of  the 
people  that  have  trusted  in  the  Eternal.  It 
begins  with  a  couplet,  like  those  which  have  gone 
before.  Then  follow  two  stanzas  of  triple 
thought-rhymes,  in  which  the  thought  is  stated 
and  intensified  with  each  repetition. 

"  He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the  end  of  the  earth : 
He    hreaketh  the  bow,  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder : 
He  burneth  the  chariot  in  the  fire." 

"  Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God : 
I  will  be  exalted  among  the  heathen  : 
I  will  be  exalted  in  the  earth." 

The  anthem  ends  with  a  repetition  of  the 
chorus. 

A  careful  study  of  the  Psalms,  even  in  Eng- 
lish, will  enable  the  thoughtful  reader  to  derive 
new  pleasure  from  them,  by  tracing  the  many 
modes  and  manners  in  which  this  poetic  form  of 
thought-rhyme  is  used  to  bind  the  composition 
together,  and  to  give  balance  and  harmony  to  the 
poem. 

Another  element  of  poetic  form  can  be  dis- 
cerned in  the  Psalms,  not  directly,  in  the  English 
version,  but  by  its  effects.  I  mean  the  curious 
artifice  of  alphabetic  arrangement.  It  was  a 
favourite  practice  among  Hebrew  poets  to  begin 
their  verses  with  the  successive  letters  of  the 
alphabet ;    or  sometimes  to  vary  the   device  by 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS.  15 

making  every  verse  in  a  strophe  begin  with  one 
letter,  and  every  verse  in  the  next  strophe  with 
the  following  letter,  and  so  on  to  the  end.  The 
Twenty-fifth  and  the  Thirty-seventh  Psalms  were 
written  by  the  first  of  these  rules  ;  the  One  H  un- 
dred  and  Nineteenth  Psalm  follows  the  second 
plan. 

Of  course  the  alphabetic  artifice  disappears 
entirely  in  the  English  translation.  But  its 
effects  remain.  The  psalms  written  in  this 
manner  usually  have  but  a  single  theme,  which  is 
repeated  over  and  over  again,  in  different  words 
and  with  new  illustrations.  They  are  kaleido- 
scopic. The  material  does  not  change,  but  it  is 
turned  this  way  and  that  way,  and  shows  itself 
in  new  shapes  and  arrangements.  These  alpha- 
betic psalms  are  characterized  by  poverty  of 
action  and  richness  of  expression. 

II. 

Milton  has  already  reminded  us  that  the  Psalms  Lyrical 

belong  to  the  second  of  the    three  orders    into  <?"a^y 

which  the   Greeks,  with  clear   discernment,   di-  °£    ie 

•  i    i       11  i  ....  ,  Psalms. 

vided    all    poetry :    the    epic,   the  lyric,   and  the 

dramatic.  The  Psalms  are  rightly  called  lyrics 
because  they  are  chiefly  concerned  with  the  im- 
mediate and  imaginative  expression  of  real  feeling. 
Jt  is  the  personal  and  emotional  note  that  predomi- 
nates. They  are  inward,  confessional,  intense ; 
outpourings  of  the  quickened  spirit;  self-revela- 
tions of  the  heart.     Jt  is  for  this  reason  that  we 


authors. 


16  THE  POETRY  OF   THE   PSALMS. 

should  never  separate  them  in  our  thought  from 

the  actual  human  life  out  of  which  they  sprang. 

We  must  feel  the  warm   pulse  of   humanity   in 

them  in  order  to  comprehend  their  meaning  and 

eternal  worth.     So  far  as  we  can  connect  them 

with  the  actual  experience  of  men,  this  will  help 

us   to  appreciate    their  reality  and  power.     The 

effort  to  do  this  will  make  plain  to  us  some  other 

things  which  it  is  important  to  remember. 

We  shall  see  at  once  that  the  book  does  not 

come  from  a  single  writer,  but  from  many  authors 

and   ages.     It  represents   the   heart  of    man    in 

communion  with  God  through  a  thousand  years 

of    history,    from  Moses  to    Xehemiah,  perhaps 

even  to  the  time  of  the  Maceabsean  revival.     It 

is,   therefore,  something  very  much    larger   and 

better  than  an  individual  book. 

It  is  the  golden  treasury  of  lyrics  gathered  from 
of  brother-  &  J  J  ° 

hood.  tne  ^e  °f  tne  Hebrew  people.  And  this  gives  to 
it  a  singular  and  precious  quality  of  brotherhood. 
The  fault,  or  at  least  the  danger,  of  modern  lyrical 
poetry  is  that  it  is  too  solitary  and  separate  in  its 
tone.  It  tends  toward  exclusiveness,  over-refine- 
ment, morbid  sentiment.  Many  Christian  hymns 
suffer  from  this  defect.  But  the  Psalms  breathe 
a  spirit  of  human  fellowship  even  when  they  are 
most  intensely  personal.  The  poet  rejoices  or 
mourns  in  solitude,  it  may  be,  but  not  alone.  He 
is  one  of  the  people.  He  is  conscious  always  of  the 
ties  that  bind  him  to  his  brother  men.  Compare 
the  intense  selfishness  of  the  modern  hymn : 


The  note 


THE  POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS.  17 

"  I  can  but  perish  if  I  go  ; 

I  am  resolved  to  try ; 
For  if  I  stay  away,  I  know 

I  shall  forever  die," 

with  the  generous  penitence  of  the  Fifty-first 
Psalm : 

"  Then  will  I  teach  transgressors  thy  way; 
And  sinners  shall  be  converted  unto  thee." 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  there  are 
several  different  kinds  of  lyrics  among  the 
Psalms.  Some  of  them  are  simple  and  natural 
outpourings  of  a  single  feeling,  like  A  Shepherd's 
Song  about  His  Shepherd,  in  the  incomparable 
Twenty-third  Psalm. 

This  little  poem  is  a  perfect  melody.     It  would  Psalm 

be  impossible  to  express  a  pure,  unmixed  emotion  AAIJ'- 

—  the  feeling  of  ioy  in  the  Divine  Goodness — .     . 
"         J   J  lyric. 

more  simply,  more  sweetly,  with  a  more  penetrat- 
ing lyrical  charm.  The  "valley  of  the  death- 
shade,"  the  "enemies"  in  whose  presence  the 
table  is  spread,  are  but  dimly  suggested  in  the 
background.  The  atmosphere  of  the  psalm  is 
clear  and  bright.  The  singing  shepherd  walks  in 
light.  The  whole  world  is  the  House  of  the  Lord, 
and  life  is  altogether  gladness. 

How  different  is  the  tone,  the  quality  of  the  Psalm 
One  Hundred  and  Nineteenth  Psalm  !    This  is  not  CJ7X 

a  melody,  but  a  harmony ;    not  a  song,  but  an     x  "      * 

i        mi  ii         ,  ,   n  '  .Jo  Duty. 

ode.     Ihe  ode  has  been  defined  as  "a  strain  of 

exalted    and    enthusiastic  lyrical  verse,   directed 


18 


THE  POETRY  OF  THE  PSALMS. 


Psalm, 
XV. 
"  The 

Good 
Citizen. 


to  a  fixed  purpose  and  dealing  progressively  with 
one  dignified  theme."  '  This  definition  precisely 
fits  the  One  Hundred  and  Nineteenth  Psalm. 

Its  theme  is  The  Eternal  Word.  Every  verse 
in  the  poem,  except  one,  contains  some  name  or 
description  of  the  law,  commandments,  testimo- 
nies, precepts,  statutes,  or  judgments  of  Jehovah. 
Its  enthusiasm  for  the  Divine  Righteousness  never 
fails  from  beginning  to  end.  Its  fixed  purpose 
is  to  kindle  in  other  hearts  the  flame  of  devotion 
to  the  one  Holy  Law.  It  closes  with  a  touch  of 
magnificent  pathos  —  a  confession  of  personal 
failure  and  an  assertion  of  spiritual  loyalty : 

"  I  have  gone  astray  like  a  lost  sheep : 

Seek  thy  servant : 

For  I  do  not  forget  thy  commandments." 

The  Fifteenth  Psalm  I  should  call  a  small, 
didactic  lyric.  Its  title  is  The  Good  Citizen.  It 
begins  with  a  question : 

"  Jehovah,  who  shall  abide  in  thy  tabernacle  ? 
Who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill?  " 

This  question  is  answered  by  the  description  of 
a  man  whose  character  corresponds  to  the  law  of 
God.  First  there  is  a  positive  sketch  in  three 
broad  lines  : 

"  He  that  walketh  uprightly, 
And  worketh  righteousness, 
And  speaketh  truth  in  his  heart." 


i"  English  Odes."     Selected  by  Edmund  Gosse.     Preface,  p.  xiii. 


THE   POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS.  19 

Then  comes  a  negative  characterization  in  a 
finely  touched  triplet : 

"  He  that  backbiteth  not  with  his  tongue, 

Nor  doeth  evil  to  his  neighbour, 

Nor  taketh  up  a  reproach  against  his  neighbour." 

This  is  followed  by  a  couplet  containing  a 
strong  contrast: 

"  In  whose  eyes  a  vile  person  is  contemned  : 
But  he  honoureth  them  that  fear  Jehovah." 

Then  the  description  goes  back  to  the  negative 
style  again  and  three  more  touches  are  added  to 
the  picture : 

"  He  that  swearethto  his  own  hurt  and  changeth  not, 
He  that  putteth  not  out  his  money  to  usury, 
Nor  taketh  reward  against  the  innocent." 

The  poem  closes  with  a  single  vigorous  line, 
summing  up  the  character  of  the  good  citizen  and 
answering  the  question  of  the  first  verse  with  a 
new  emphasis  of  security  and  permanence. 

"  Doing  these  things,  he  shall  never  be  moved." 

The  Seventy-eighth,  One  Hundred  and  Fifth,  Lyrical 
and  One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Psalms  are  lyrical  ballads. 
ballads.  They  tell  the  story  of  Israel  in  Egypt, 
and  in  the  Wilderness,  and  in  Canaan,  with 
swift,  stirring  phrases,  and  with  splendid  flashes 
of  imagery.  Take  this  passage  from  the  Seventy- 
eighth  Psalm  as  an  example  : 

"He  clave  the  rocks  in  the  wilderness, 

And  <jave  them  drink  out  of  the  great  depths. 


20  THE  POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS. 

"  He  brought  streams  also  out  of  the  rock, 
And  caused  waters  to  run  down  like  rivers. 

"  And  they  sinned  yet  more  against  him, 
Provoking  the  most  High  in  the  wilderness. 

"  They  tempted  God  in  their  hearts. 
Asking  meat  for  their  lust. 

"  Yea,  they  spake  against  God  : 

They  said,  can  God  furnish  a  table  in  the  wilderness  ? 

"■  Behold,  he  smote  the  rock  that  the  waters  gushed  out, 

And  the  streams  overflowed ; 

Can  he  give  bread  also  ? 

Can  he  provide  flesh  for  his  people  ? 

"  Therefore  Jehovah  heard  and  was  wroth  : 
So  afire  was  kindled  against  Jacob, 
And  anger  also  came  up  against  Israel  : 
Because  they  believed  not  in  God, 
And  trusted  not  in  his  salvation  : 

"  Though  he  had  commanded  the  clouds  from  above, 

And  opened  the  doors  of  heaven, 

And  had  rained  down  manna  upon  them  to  eat, 

And  had  given  them  of  the  com  of  heaven, 

Man  did  eat  angels'  food  : 

"  He  sent  them  meat  to  the  full. 

He  caused  an  east  wind  to  blow  in  the  heaven, 

And  by  his  power  he  brought  in  the  south  wind. 

He  rained  flesh  also  upon  them  as  dust, 

And  feathered  fowls  like  as  the  sand  of  the  sea. 


THE  POETRY   OF   THE   PSALMS.  21 

"  And  he  let  it  fall  in  the  midst  of  their  camp, 
Round  about  their  habitations  ; 
So  they  did  eat  and  were  filled, 
For  he  gave  them  their  own  desire. 

"  They  were  not  estranged  from  their  lust: 
But  while  the  meat  was  yet  in  their  mouths, 
The  wrath  of  God  came  upon  them,  and  slew  the  fattest 

of  them, 
And  smote  down  the  chosen  men  of  Israel." 

The  Forty-fifth  Psalm  is  a  Marriage  Ode :  the 
Hebrew  title  calls  it  a  Love  Song.  It  bears  all 
the  marks  of  having  been  composed  for  some 
royal  wedding-feast  in  Jerusalem. 

There     are    many    nature    lyrics    among    the  Nature 
Psalms.     The   Twenty-ninth    is    notable  for    its  lVr%cs- 
rugged  realism.     It  is  a  Song  of  Thunder. 

'•  The  voice  of  the  Lord  breaketh  the  cedars  : 
Yea,  the  Lord  breaketh  the  cedars  of  Lebanon: 
lie  maketh  them  also  to  skip  like  a  calf: 
Lebanon  and  Sirion  like  a  young  unicorn." 

The  One  Hundred  and  Fourth,  on  the  contrary, 
is  full  of  calm  sublimity  and  meditative  grandeur. 

"  Jehovah  my  God  thou  art  very  great : 
Thou  art  clothed  with  honour  and  majesty  : 

'••  Who  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  witli  a  garment; 
Who  stretchest  out  the  heavens  like  a  curtain." 

The  Nineteenth  is  famous  for  its  splendid  com- 
parison between  "'the  starry  heavens  and  the 
moral  law." 


22 


THE  POETRY   OF  THE  PSALMS. 


Dramatic  I  think  that  we  may  find  also  some  dramatic 
lyrics.  lyrics  among  the  Psalms  —  poems  composed  to 
express  the  feelings  of  an  historic  person,  like 
David,  or  Solomon,  in  certain  well-known  and 
striking  experiences  of  his  life.  That  a  later 
writer  should  thus  embody  and  express  the  truth 
dramatically  through  the  personality  of  some 
great  hero  of  the  past,  involves  no  falsehood.  It 
is  a  mode  of  utterance  which  has  been  common  to 
the  literature  of  all  lands  and  of  all  ages.  Such 
a  method  of  composition  would  certainly  be  no 
hindrance  to  the  spirit  of  inspiration.  The  Thirty- 
first  Psalm,  for  instance,  is  ascribed  by  the  title 
to  David.  But  there  is  strong  reason,  in  the 
phraseology  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  poem,  to 
believe  that  it  was  written  by  the  Prophet  Jere- 
miah. 


Psalms 
differ  in 
poetic 
value. 


III. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  our  reverence  for 
the  Psalms  in  their  moral  and  religious  aspects 
will  make  us  put  them  all  on  the  same  level 
poetically.  There  is  a  difference  among  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament  in  regard  to  the  purity  and 
dignity  of  the  Greek  in  which  they  are  written. 
There  is  a  difference  among  St.  Paul's  Epistles  in 
regard  to  the  clearness  and  force  of  their  style. 
There  is  a  difference  even  among  the  chapters  of 
the  same  epistle  in  regard  to  the  beauty  of 
thought  and  language.  In  the  First  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  the  thirteenth  chapter  is  poetic, 


THE  POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS.  23 

and  the  fourteenth  is  prosaic.  Why  should  there 
not  be  a  difference  in  poetic  quality  among  the 
Psalms? 

There  is  a  difference.  The  honest  reader  will 
recognize  it.  It  will  be  no  harm  to  him  if  he 
should  have  his  favourites  among  the  poems  which 
have  been  gathered  from  many  centuries  into 
this  great  collection. 

There  are  some,  like  the  Twenty-seventh,  the  Excellent 
Forty-second,  the  Forty-sixth,  the  Fifty-first Psalms- 
the  Sixty-third,  the  Ninety-first,  the  Ninety- 
sixth,  the  One  Hundred  and  Third,  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Seventh,  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty- 
ninth,  which  are  among  the  noblest  poems  of  the 
world.  Others  move  on  a  lower  level,  and  show 
the  traces  of  effort  and  constraint.  There  are  also 
manifest  alterations  and  interpolations,  which  are 
not  always  improvements.  Dr.  Perowne,  who 
is  one  of  the  wisest  and  most  conservative  of 
modern  commentators,  says,  "  Many  of  the 
Psalms  have  not  come  down  to  us  in  their  origi- 
nal form,"  '  and  refers  to  the  alterations  which 
the  Seventieth  makes  in  the  Fortieth,  and  the 
Fifty-third  in  the  Fourteenth.  The  last  two 
verses  of  the  Fifty-first  were  evidently  added  by 
a  later  hand.  The  whole  book,  in  its  present 
form,  shows  the  marks  of  its  compilation  and 
use  as  the  Hymn-Book  of  the  Jewish  people. 
Not  only  in  the  titles,  but  also  in  the  text,   we 

i  The  Book  of  Psalms,  _'  vols.,  London,  1883,  vol.  i,  p.  82. 


24  THE   POETRY  OF   THE  rSALMS. 

can  discern  the  work  of  the  compiler,  critic,  and 
adapter,  sometimes  wise,  but  occasionally  other- 
wise. 

IV. 

Three  The  most  essential  thing  in  the  appreciation  of 

qualities    the  poetry  of  the  Psalms  is  the  recognition  of  the 
of  sur-       three  great  spiritual  qualities  which   distinguish 
r      it,  and  are  the  evidences,  not  only  of  genius,  but 
poetry™    also  of  inspiration. 

The  love  ^ie  ^rs^  °^  these  *s  the  deep  and  genuine  love 
of  Nature.  °f  nature.  The  psalmists  delight  in  the  vision 
of  the  world,  and  their  joy  quickens  their  senses 
to  read  alike  the  larger  hieroglyphs  of  gloiy 
written  in  the  stars  and  the  delicate  tracings  of 
transient  beauty  on  leaf  and  flower  ;  to  hear  alike 
the  mighty  roaring  of  the  sea  and  the  soft  sweet 
laughter  of  the  rustling  cornfields.  But  in  all 
these  they  see  and  hear  the  handwriting  and  the 
voice  of  God.  It  is  His  presence  that  makes  the 
world  sublime  and  beautiful.  The  direct,  pierc- 
ing, elevating  sense  of  this  presence  simplifies, 
enlarges,  and  ennobles  their  style,  and  makes  it 
different  from  other  nature-poetry.  They  never 
lose  themselves,  like  Theocritus  and  Wordsworth 
and  Shelley  and  Tennyson,  in  the  contemplation 
and  description  of  natural  beauty.  They  see  it, 
but  they  always  see  beyond  it.  Compare,  for 
example,  a  modern  versified  translation  with  the 
Psalm  itself : 


THE  POETRY  OF   THE   PSALMS.  25 

"  The  spacious  firmament  on  high, 
With  all  the  blue  ethereal  sky 
And  spangled  heavens,  a  shining  frame, 
Their  Great  Original  proclaim."  ' 

Addison's  descriptive  epithets  betray  a  conscious 
effort  to  make  a  splendid  picture.  But  the 
psalmist  felt  no  need  of  this  ;  a  larger  impulse 
lifted  him  at  once  into  "  the  grand  style"  : 

"The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God; 
And  the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork." 

The  second  quality  of  the  poetry  of  the  Psalms  Moral 
is  their  passionate  sense  of  the  beauty  of  holiness,  enihu- 
Keats  was  undoubtedly  right  in  his  suggestion Slasm- 
that  the  poet  must  always  see  truth  in  the  form  of 
beauty.     Otherwise  he  may  be  a  philosopher,  or 
a  critic,  or  a  moralist,  but  he  is  not  a  true  poet. 
But  we  must  go  on  from  this  standpoint  to  the 
Platonic  doctrine  that  the  highest  form  of  beauty 
is  spiritual  and  ethical.     It  is  the  harmony  of  the 
soul  with  the  eternal  music  of  the  Good.     And 
the  highest  poets  are  those  who,  like  the  Psalmists, 
are  most  ardently  enamoured    of    righteousness. 
This  fills  their  songs  with  sweetness  and  fire  in- 
comparable and  immortal : 

"The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,  enduring  for  ever; 

The  judgments  of  the  Lord  arc  true  and  righteous  alto- 
gether. 

More  to  he  desired  arc  they  than  gold,  yea,  than  much 
fine  gold  : 

Sweeter  also  than  honey  and  the  honeycomb." 


i  JoR.-iih  Addison,  171;;, 


26  THE  POETRY  OF   THE  PSALMS. 

Joy  in  The  third  quality  of  the  poetry  of  the  Psalms  is 

G°d-  their  intense  joy  in  God.     No  lover  ever  poured 

out  the  longings  of  his  heart  towards  his  mistress 
more  eagerly  than  David  voiced  his  desire  and 
thirst  for  God.  No  conqueror  ever  sang  of 
victory  more  exultantly  than  David  rejoiced  in 
the  Lord,  who  was  his  light  and  his  salvation,  the 
strength  of  his  life  and  his  portion  forever. 

After  all,  the  true  mission  of  poetry  is  to  in- 
crease joy.  It  must,  indeed,  be  sensitive  to  sor- 
row and  acquainted  with  grief.  But  it  has  wings 
given  to  it  in  order  that  it  may  bear  us  up  into 
the  ether  of  gladness. 

There  is  no  perfect  joy  without  love.  There- 
fore love-poetry  is  the  best.  But  the  highest  of 
all  love-poetry  is  that  which  celebrates,  with  the 
Psalms, 

"  that  Love  which  is  and  was 
My  Father  and  my  Brother  and  my  God." 


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